Small tweak to Cairn India stake purchase

7th Apr 2011 12:59

The open offer by Vedanta subsidiary Sesa Goa for up to 20% of the shares of Cairn India is to go ahead as planned after Vedanta and Cairn Energy tweaked the arrangements. The Securities and Exchange Board of India notified Indian miner Vedanta that the put and call options exercisable by Cairn Energy and Vedanta, respectively, and the pre-emption right exercisable by Vedanta in connection with the transaction, must be removed from the sale agreement as they do not comply with certain Indian securities regulations.Vedanta said that should Sesa Goa's open offer result in the company picking up less than 20% of the issued share capital of Cairn India then Sesa will have the option of taking its stake up to 20%, either directly from Cairn Energy following Reserve Bank of India and other approvals, or from its parent company, Vedanta.Vedanta's acquisition of a majority stake in Cairn India is still awaiting clearance from the Indian government. Vedanta's intention to purchase a 51-60% stake in Cairn India from Scottish oil company Cairn Energy was announced last August.---jh